Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

Building Game Worlds
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U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N
Python Sample
Perl Sample
def moveMonster():
if monster.canSeePlayer():
monster.attack()
elif monster.canSeeWeapon():
monster.pickupWeapon()
else:
monster.patrol()
sub moveMonster {
if( monster->canSeePlayer() ) {
monster->attack();
} elsif ( monster->canSeeWeapon() ) {
monster->pickupWeapon();
} else {
monster->patrol();
}
}
APPLIED SCRIPTING EXAMPLES
One of the best ways to demonstrate the power of scripting is to cover several common
cases in which scripts are used in games to control behavior. Scripts can be used to
control many kinds of custom events, so this is not by any means an exhaustive
sampling of every possible script-based control. Script-based controls are customand
user-defined. This is where collaboration with a tools or engine technology
programmer or team is so very important. Both sides (programmer and scripter) need
to agree on which behavior aspects make for the most powerful kinds of gameplay
edits. The samples that follow should give you a solid idea of how you might use
scripts to control different types of game behaviors.
NPC Conversation Templates
NPCs populate many game worlds and are used in a variety of ways. You might want
to control how an NPC handles conversation with a player’s character. Let’s assume
that actor_21 is a cave guard (a beast protecting the entrance to a cave). We want this
cave guard actor to simply pass along three clues or pieces of information to the
player about what’s inside the cave. A script might look like this: